Construction of walls and partitions



July i6, 1940. w. H. K'ERR CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS AND PARTITIONS Filed Deo. 2'7, 1938 Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED STATI-:s

vPATENT OFFICE CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS AND PARTITIONS William Henri Kerr, Muswell Hill, London,

' England 7 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of treating and constructing partitions and walls, and is more particularly concerned with the walls of courts for squash rackets and similar games which are subjected to impacts during play.

Walls designed especially for game courts present problems which do not exist with walls intended for general and ordinary use. In preparing or treating the walls of squash rackets 10 courts it has been the practice hitherto to employ metal lathing rendered over with a cement and sand compound and finished with a white cement. It has been found that after a time the keys on the back of the lathing broke away from the lathing through the constant knocking of the ball and other impacts thereagainst, with the result that the surface of the wall eventually became loose and fell away. Owing to differences of expansion between the components of the wall,

crazng or cracking of the playing surface very often takes place.

The object of the present invention is to provide a wall, designed and adapted particularly for the purpose of squash rackets court play,

having a hard outer surface-the playing surface in the case of a squash rackets court wall-which is capable of withstanding the impact such as may be caused by the knocking of a ball during play or by a player crashing against the wall,

and which is of a homogeneous character with absorbent properties and a certain amount of inherent resilience so that the outer surface of the wall retains its original smooth exterior and condensation thereon is largely avoided. This is based upon the idea of a plaster coating (sometimes incorporated with cement and sand) onto an open-woven textile backing sheet stretched over a supporting structure or surface-a common practice in ordinary wall constructions which heretofore has not been proposed, or at least has not been adopted to squash and the like game courts, because of the defects that heretofore have rendered it unsuitable for the purpose.

According to this invention a wall particularly for squash rackets courts, comprises a supporting structure having stretched across and secured thereto by battens or the like a base of open* woven textile material, such as open-woven can- 50 vas, which is bonded with and covered by a porous and reinforced cementitious composition the particular feature of which is that it is essentially porous, the porosity being produced by the presence of materials in the composition which 55 shrink when the composition dries out, and which (Cl. 'l2-17) preferably comprise or include granulated pumice, mixed with cement and sand. The outer surface is hard, and for a squash racket court is smooth, this surface preferably being formed by a finishing coat Yof gypsum plaster e. g. anhydrous 5' calcium plaster which itself, if not over wrot, is porous, and thus all atmospheric moisture is ab* sorbed and condensation on the wall surfaces avoided.

In order that the invention may be readily 10 understood, its application to the construction of a wall particularly intended for squash racket courts, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a pictorial perspective view of part of the improved Wall with parts broken away for explanatory purposes; and

Figure 2 is a plan view looking down on the top of Figure 1, with the modification that the reinforcement is embedded in the rst layer. l

In carrying out the invention according to the practical embodiment shown in the drawing, a strong openwork canvas base strip l is stretched between vertically disposed posts or studs 2 conveniently arranged at regular intervals, the canvas being xed to the studs by wood laths 3. A first layer 4 of cement and sand which is prefer ably mixed in equal proportions is laid on the canvas conveniently by means of a brush. Over as shown in Figure 1), or embedded in (as shown in Figure 2), this layer is fixed a reinforcement 5 of expanded metal, rod assembly or the like, covering the same area as the canvas, and the Whole is then rendered and floated with a second layer 6 formed of a composition of granulated pumice and sharp washed sand which `may be mixed in a proportion of two parts of pumice and sandpreferably respectively in the proportion of one to two-to one part of cement. Finally the iioated coat is devilled and prepared to receive a finishing coat 'l of a suitable gypsum plaster, e. g. an anhydrous calcium plaster, which is carefully trowelled to form a smooth surface with a dull self-coloured finish.

A wall such as that above described is par ticularly suitable for use in squash rackets courts, as it consolidates into a strong structure capable of withstanding the knocking of the ball and the crashing of the players against it. The metal reinforcement may conveniently take the form of a wire mesh expanded structure so that a secure bonding results between the canvas, the reinforcement and the concrete composition. By reason of the use of the granulated pumice mixed with cement and sand, together with the nish- 55 ing coat of a suitable gypsum plaster, there is formed a cellular structure which enables atmospheric moisture to be absorbed and condensation on the wall surface to be avoided.

The method of treatment herein referred to in order to provide an absorbent wall surface may be applied to existing walls and especially to such walls which are not particularly suitable for receiving ordinary wall composition, for example such Walls as stone walls and walls built in lime and mortar. In the treatment of such existing walls the required surface is obtained by stretching the canvas backing or base l across battens on the old surface of the existing wall.

I claim:

1. A wall particularly designed for squash rackets courts, comprising a supporting structure or surface, a base of open-woven textile material stretched across and secured to said structure, a porous and reinforced cementitious composition comprising a 'mixture of cement. sand and granulated pumice covering and bonded with said base, and a finishing coat of gypsum plastic applied over said cementitious covering.

2. A wall particularly designed for squash racket courts, comprising a supporting structure or surface, a base of open-woven textile material stretched over and secured to said structure, a porous and reinforced cementitious composition covering and bonded with said base, said composition comprising a first layer of cement and sand applied in direct contact With the base and a second layer comprising a mixture of cement, sand and granulated pumice applied directly to the first layer, and a finishing coat of gypsum plaster applied to said cementitious covering directly over the said second layer thereof.

3. A Wall particularly designed for squash rackets courts, comprising a vertical supporting structure or surface, a base of open-woven textile material such as canvas stretched over and secured to said structure, a porous and reinforced cementitious composition comprising a mixture of cement, sand and granulated pumice covering and bonded with said base, the reinforcement of said covering composition comprising a perforated metal sheet such as wire mesh embedded therein and a finishing coat of gypsum plaster applied over said cementitious covering and providing a hard exterior surface thereto.

4. A Wall particularly designed for squash rackets courts, comprising a supporting structure or surface, a base of open-woven textile material such as canvas stretched across and secured to said structure, a cementitious composition covering and bonded with said base, said covering comprising a first layer of a solidied solution of cement and sand applied directly to the base and a second layer consisting of a mixture of cement, sand and granulated pumice applied to the first layer, a wire mesh or the like metal reinforcement embedded in at least one of said cementitious composition layers, and a finishing coat of an anhydrous calcium plaster such as gypsum plaster applied over the cementitious covering to give it a hard exterior surface.

5. A wall according to claim 4 wherein the first layer consists of equal proportions of cement and sand, and the second layer consists of two parts of granulated pumice and sharp Washed sand to one part of cement.

6. A wall according to claim 4, wherein the` second layer consists of two parts of granulated pumice and sand respectively in the proportions of one to two, to one part of cement.

7. A wall particularly designed for squash rackets courts, comprising a supporting structure' or surface, a base of open-woven textile material such as canvas stretched across and secured to said structure, a cementitious composition covercement and sand applied directly to the base and' ing and bonded with said base, said covering comprising a first layer of equal proportions of ing to give the same a hard exterior surface,

capable of absorbing moisture.

WILLIAM HENRI KERR.

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